Senate's pause on disaster relief bill squeezing hopes for citrus aid

The Sunshine State is the No. 2 producer of oranges in the world after Brazil. Citrus grown in Florida primarily ends up in juice form on kitchen tables throughout the world. Hurricane Irma in September 2017 affected the state's citrus crop in a big way. Before Irma the total impact of citrus on Florida’s economy was $8.6 billion a year.
Wochit

WASHINGTON – The Senate’s delay on a disaster relief bill could do more than just inconvenience Florida citrus growers and the scores of support businesses that depend on the iconic, multi-billion-dollar industry still recovering from Hurricane Irma.

It could wind up killing the effort.

Punting the $81 billion bill (which includes $2.6 billion for agriculture relief nationwide) into 2018 complicates prospects of congressional passage for several reasons:

– The Republican–controlled Senate entering a new congressional session might not feel the urgency to move quickly now that the GOP tax bill and a temporary spending measure keeping the government through Jan. 19 are done.

– The bill could grow more in cost as states socked by disasters lobby their senators for more money as disaster officials submit updated damage assessments.

“I think that there’s the potential for the Senate disaster relief proposal to be a little bit more robust than the House,” Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio told reporters last week.

– Puerto Rico, where large swaths of communities remain without power three months after Maria struck, figures to play a role. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer ticked off a list of issues – more funding for Medicaid and drinking water infrastructure as well as tax provisions to give island residents equal footing with other U.S. citizens – that must be addressed to get party support.

“Puerto Rico is hurting from the hurricane and needs all the help it can get,” Schumer said on the Senate floor last week. “Those things must be fixed before a disaster supplemental can move forward.”

– If the Senate can muster the 60 votes to pass a disaster relief bill, it will likely include changes that require the legislation to go back to a House where passage is not a certainty. The $81 billion passed 251-169 thanks in no small measure to a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers from California, Florida and Texas where disaster damage was greatest.

But 51 deficit-hawk Republicans voted against it and their numbers are likely to swell if the bill keeps growing without matching cuts in other parts of the federal budget, said Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Okeechobee, who’s been pushing for months to make sure citrus relief is included as part of disaster relief.

“I assume it’s going to come back much bigger and that was one of the problems it had in the House,” he said Tuesday. “I hope that it’s not so enormous that it has problems passing.”

The delay doesn't necessarily spell doom for citrus aid. With Congress facing a Jan. 19 deadline to keep the government open, Democrats like Florida Sen. Bill Nelson could wield enough leverage to add citrus relief to a must-pass spending bill that prevents a partial federal shutdown.

While lawmakers contemplate their next move, citrus farmers are anxiously surveying the landscape as well.

“There will probably be some growers who might not be able to weather the storm,” said Wayne Simmons, president of LaBelle Fruit Co. who lost about half his crop of Valencia oranges in Hendry and Collier counties when Hurricane Irma swept through Florida. “There’s a lot of other people affected (too). You’ve got all the service industries. You’ve got harvesters, chemical companies, ancillary businesses. It affects a lot of lives.”

Florida officials estimate Irma caused about $761 million in damages to some 421,000 acres of citrus groves across a state that produces about 70 percent of the nation's orange juice. U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasters are predicting the 2017–18 orange crop will be the lowest in decades.

Under the House bill, farmers and ranchers in disaster zones across the country would be eligible to apply for a portion of the $2.6 billion pool. But not every citrus grower might be fully compensated for their damages because they'll be competing with farmers of other crops and from other states.

Citrus growers thought this year would finally bring good news. After more than a decade of battling a greening disease that destroyed much of their crop, farmers had begun to make progress and were expecting a significant rise in production.

Then Irma came along in September

“We really felt we had turned the corner,” Simmons said. “The trees were coming back. We had a really good crop of fruit. And it’s like, man, another blow. How many can you take?”